a. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to barbeque or brazier-style cookers for use either indoors or outdoors for cooking meats, chicken, fish, fowl or vegetables.
More specifically, the invention is directed towards a convertible cooker which is capable of cooking barbeque style both indoors, using a conventional kitchen stove as a heating source, and outdoors, using charcoal or other combustible material as a heating source.
b. Description of the Prior Art
The art of barbeque cooking relies upon both radiant and convective cooking. Food is placed on a grill positioned above a grate which supports hot coals or heated lava rocks. Heat flows upwardly, and by convection and radiation, cooks the meat or food. Grease from the food then drips upon the source of heat, and as the grease sears and burns, the fumes spiral upwardly to the meat to impart the unique barbeque taste.
The most basic and popular outdoor cookers are designed to use a combustible material, such as charcoal, as a source of heat. Charcoal produces noxious fumes which present a serious health hazard if allowed to concentrate in a confined area. In addition, the combustion process leaves a somewhat messy ash deposit within the cooker that is often difficult completely to contain. Consequently, outdoor cookers which are limited solely to the use of such combustible materials as a source of heat, are not well suited for indoor use.
Virtually all indoor barbeque cookers retain the previously mentioned grill and grate shelf arrangement, but supplant the charcoal or combustive material with lava rock or other suitable heat retentive material. The lava rock, heated from below either by an electric or a gas burner, cooks the food in much the same manner as the burning charcoal, but without the production of noxious fumes and ash residue. And, while some smoke is generated during the barbequing process, an exhaust fan or vent overlying the stove or cooking area quickly removes the smoke for discharge outdoors.
While known prior art and the market place are not lacking in portable barbeque units of varying design, these units are not readily convertible for both indoor and outdoor use. Portable barbeque units are generally usable only with charcoal as a heating source, and are thus restricted solely to outdoor applications. Most indoor units, which rely on electric power or gas fuel as a heating source, are permanent, fixed-location units not adaptable for portable, outdoor use. A few portable gas or electric powered barbeques are available, but none of these is flexibly adapted to use either charcoal or a stove top burner as alternative sources of heat.